Brand Equity - Economic Times

Wednesday, 01 Sep 2010

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T H E ECONOMIC TIMES
1 SEPTEMBER 2010

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PURPOSE CAN MAKE STRANGERS CONSUMERS AND CONSUMERS ADVOCATES

s the world around us embraces new changes every day, the context in which brands are built is reaching an inflexion point. Consumers we target and the markets we operate in are now becoming challenging in more ways than ever before. Why now? Now is when consumers, employees, business partners and stakeholders are increasingly concerned with what they're buying into. They are increasingly searching for meaning in how they spend their time and money Now is when consumers' cynicism and distrust in business is at its highest and they are asking more questions. The consumer now has unlimited information accessible at his or her fingertips as increased access to the Internet makes transparency a way of life. The time has come for brand-building to re-invent itself as both an art and a science. It is time to make the transition from 'market-

yond its functional benefit. The puring' to 'serving', inspired and unified by a clear pur- I pose of our diaper brand 'Pampers', pose. Purpose-driven growth can be achieved by a com- 1 for instance, is not just providing pany when it is ingrained in the mind, body and soul of 1S l i a n t a n u uninterrupted sleep for babies but its brands. When a brand's 'heart' is set in defining a I actually to help ensure healthy and benefit that will serve the consumer, it is when purpose- | holistic development of young inspired marketing is at work. A brand's purpose is dechildren. The purpose of our rived from its heritage and its 'body' demonstrates this brand 'Always' (Whisper in India), is not mereat every touchpoint at which it connects with the conly sanitary protection but that of empowerment of women. Allow sumer. However, purpose cannot merely be words on a me to cite an example of one of our global initiatives where this purplaque, a mantra or a feelgood slogan it needs to be ingrained in pose of the brand comes to life. It has been well established that bethe very DNA of any company that is built to last. yond hygiene, lack of adequate sanitary protection has a direct imAt P&G, for instance, our Purpose calls on us to touch and impact on female literacy; data clearly shows that girls miss anywhere prove the lives of more of the world's consumers now and for generup tc a month of schooling in a year on account of their periods, with ations to come, and this has stood unchanged over P&G's 172-yrear fear of soiling and lack of proper sanitation facilities being among history of growth. As we at P&G think about the four billion people the key reasons. Going beyond merely providing affordable sanitary we connect with on the planet, or the billions more we aim to reach, protection, the 'Always' Protecting Futures Keeping Girls in it is indeed very humbling. It causes us to realise how empathic we School ' program provides the right puberty education and the apneed to be to connect with all of the world's people in order to ininopropriate infrastructure and sanitation facilities to over 20 million vate and develop the products that improve their lives. girls across the world, with a focus on developing countries. Often in discussions like this, the question of earning profit and In India, too, we have been driving the purpose of our global 'Live, doing business through consumers is posed as a conflict to the phiLearn and Thrive' corporate philanthropy program by helping losophy of serving consumers. Undoubtedly, companies are in busiwomen and children develop in disadvantageous or underprivileged ness to earn a profit and return value to shareholders. At P&G, for1 incontexts. Whether it is our Whisper School Program that has been edstance, the profit comes from fulfilling our purpose and the differucating and providing nearly eight million young girls with good ence lies in the fact that we aim to earn profit by improving lives and feminine hygiene or our flagship outreach program Shiksha, which not in order to improve lives. At P&G, we don't treat philanthropy has pre vided access to education for more than 150,000 children in Inand sustainability as something separate from our business. It's india , Lie purpose of improving lives has been the unifying intent. tegrated across our growth pillars of sustainability and innovation. Our environmental sustainability efforts are also a great source of The power of Purpose lies in its ability to turn strangers into conpride. Since 2002, P&G has reduced its energy and water usage by sumers and consumers into advocates. The philosophy of serving nearly 50 %. In addition, our global 'Live, Learn and Thrive' program others to make life better has a cascading impact in bigger ideas, has been helping over 200 million children get off to a healthy start more icyal customers, inspired employees and better results. And it and overcome disadvantages every year. is now that the world's markets need to embrace this idea of purposeJisp ired growth more than ever before. Every P&G brand lives and breathes a purpose that grows be-

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